Girl Who Cried Wolf

La Bête Du Gévaudan

Umji pulled Yuju around the nearest corner. They were hidden in the dark, but their scent wasn't. The two leaned against the wall, trying to catch their breath from running so much. Fortunately, they didn't hear the creature anymore.

"What the hell was that thing?" Yuju panted.

"I don't know. Is it still coming?" Umji nudged Yuju, motioning for her to check.

She peeked her head around the corner and saw nothing but a few houses in the distance. "It's gone. Thank god." She sighed.

"Is there a way back without having to go out that way?"

"Um, I can check. Stay here." Yuju furthered down the dark alley and checked around the corner. She then signaled for Umji to follow her.

"What even is this place? It reeks of alcohol and fish." Umji covered her nose as they found a passage around a bunch of dumpsters.

"I think it's a restaurant."

"That makes sense. Is there a road ahead?" Umji squinted her eyes, trying see better.

"I think so. I see yellow and white lines, it's definitely a road." Yuju reached out for Umji's hand and lead her along the way.

"We need to notify the others about what we just saw."

"We will. Tonight or tomorrow?"

"Tonight. They need to know. This thing, it might be out on a rampage." Umji spoke as she kept checking behind her to make sure that creature wasn't following them, but she figured that it wouldn't even be able to fit back here seeing how huge it was.

"Do you think Sowon will know what it is?"

"Of course she will. She knows everything there is to know about the supernatural world."

"Okay, then let's hurry." They made it out to the road, glancing behind them before they ran off.

➖➖➖

"Hold on, you saw a what?" Sowon was lost dumbfounded.

"Well, we don't know for certain what it was," Umji remarked.

"What did it look like?"

"It's skin was black, but it also had this black mist surrounding its body. It had blue eyes and the biggest claws I've ever seen. Honestly, it was the hugest creature I've ever seen." Umji tried to recall what it looked like, but she couldn't remember much because she was focused on getting her and Yuju out of there alive.

"La Bête du Gévaudan," Sowon mumbled.

"What?"

"La Bête du Gévaudan," she repeated, this time with a much clearer voice, "otherwise known as the beast of Gévaudan. It is history's most vicious, most famous werewolf."

"Wait, didn't you say that the name of the beast is Sebastien? Is this what you were talking about when you were talking about the Dread Doctors?"

"Yes, that's correct. The Dread Doctors and the beast of Gévaudan are connected."

"How so?"

"Back in the 18 century in France, Sebastien was a soldier and serial killer. In the late 17th century, he was originally a human. He was running from British soldiers in Canada. He became a werewolf after drinking rain water from the paw print of a wolf. This allowed him to transform into a monstrous wolf through unexplained means. The body of the beast is surrounded by smoke-like shadows. According to witnesses, its body is oil black, solid but shapeless, like a shadow pretending to be real. It killed around 500 people. Many believed it was for a sport because it never ate its victims and only targeted the head and the neck. Sebastien's friend, Marcel, who is a dread doctor, covered up his crimes until Lihua Lu discovered the truth." Sowon explained as the others carefully listened.

"How do you kill it?"

"The only weapon that's been proven to kill it is a steel pike wielded by his sister. The steel was made out of wolfsbane, mountain ash, and her own blood under the light of a full moon."

"So what you're basically saying is that there's no way to kill it."

"Well, there might be other ways that aren't heard of. The Dread Doctors must've created an engineered version of the beast using a teenage chimera as a host. They need an actual body because they can't resurrect the beast out of thin air. The person is human during the day and most likely unaware that it's transforming into the beast at night."

"So it's a teenager?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, as the beast gets smarter and regains memories from its former life, the teenager inside will be physically gone, replaced by the beasts' original host."

"We have to stop it before the teenager inside disappears."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we can."

"There's always a way, at least that's what Eunbi says."

"I hate to break it to you, but Eunbi is wrong. Some people can't be saved, that's how the world works, unfortunately." Sowon frowned, as if she were talking about something personal.

"So what are we gonna do? Just let it keep killing people?"

"If it keeps killing people, I will find a way to kill it, but for now, don't worry about it."

"We have to tell Eunbi tomorrow. I'm gonna go home and do a bit of research on it," Umji said, standing up from the table to leave.

"Just go to bed. Researching it isn't going to give you the answer on how to defeat it." Sowon patted Umji's back as she followed her to the door.

"I'm interested though, but I'm also tired." Umji pouted.

"I know, it's a very interesting story. Be careful on your way home." She sent the two home.

"Are you going to tell them about Cao Lu and Lihua Lu?" Eunha crossed her arms over her chest after Sowon closed the door.

"They don't need to know."

"Yes, they do, Sojung. It's important to the whole story."

"Ok, fine. I will tell them tomorrow."

"Why didn't you just tell them right now?"

"Because I need to talk to Eunbi first. Once she finds out Cao Lu and Lihua Lu are related, she might try do something that is dangerous. Bringing up Cao Lu is going to spark some memories, so I'm going to have to be careful. I know that if I told Yuju and Umji they would go straight to her and tell her and they wouldn't be careful of her feelings."

"I didn't know you cared for Eunbi that much."

"Of course I do. She's my little alpha, my wolfpup." Sowon weakly smiled.